I'm Always Here
by Tillyalf427
Summary: Set in episode 7 of eternal summer. Stood in the dark clearing in the woods, Rin confronts Sousuke however, something unexpected happens, worrying Rin... I do not own Free! or any of the characters, sorry if it's ooc. Trigger Warning: Mentions of child abuse, do not read if you're triggered by these things.


Trigger warning: Mentions of child abuse.

"I heard the news Rin - Senpai." Nitori was saying "About how you were scouted. I heard you got a ton of calls. Congratulations."

"Yeah, thanks." Rin replied, pulling himself up once more with his arms.

"Anyone who'd seen that race would certainly contact you. It was incredible." Nitori stated enthusiastically

"If scouts are contacting me, they must be contacting Haru too. I can't lose to him again. I'll definitely win next time." Rin replied before he turned to Sousuke "That reminds me, the university you're going to reached out to me too. It depends on their offer of course but who knows, we may be swimming on the same team even after we graduate."

"Yeah that'd be nice" Sousuke replied however, he didn't seem too interested. His eyes were blank as he stared down at the floor.

"Is something wrong?" Rin asked

"Nothing's wrong." Sousuke replied simply, not bothering to look up at Rin.

"Something's been off about you since yesterday. During the race I noticed you lost momentum for a second. Are you not feeling well?" Rin asked however as he received no answer he added "Why aren't you saying anything, spit it out."

"Rin - Senpai, please don't fight." Nitori said before Rin replied with

"I know, this isn't a fight. Sousuke, let's head somewhere else." Rin made a gesture for Sousuke to follow him as they headed outside into the cool air.

"I told you nothing's wrong." Sousuke stated, his voice emotionless as Rin came to a stop in a small clearing in the trees, turning around to face the taller of the two.

"Then let me ask you, now that you've race the relay, how do you feel? Remember what you told me." Rin asked as Sousuke cast his mind back to what he had said.

"I get the sense that if I swam the relay with you I'd understand something. I don't know myself what that something is...but I want to try to find it...that something" Sousuke had said, avoiding eye contact with Rin.

"Did you find it?" Rin asked expectantly

"I don't know." Sousuke mumbled back, looking down at the floor

"What?" Rin stared in disbelief whilst his voice began showing his anger

"I said I don't know if I found it." Sousuke repeated slightly louder just before Rin's arms reached forward, gripping his collar and roughly slamming him against a nearby tree.

"And I know I told you I wanted to swim a serious relay. And I only wanted people who were really serious about it on my team! And now you tell me you 'don't know'. Sousuke are you saying you weren't taking it seriously." Rin said however Sousuke wasn't listening. His mind was filled with flashbacks as Rin's voice was drowned out.

 _"You're useless! Pathetic! You'll never get anywhere in life!" The voice was loud in his ears, ringing throughout the almost empty house. With each sentence said, he was slammed into the_ _wall behind him, the force increasing each time._

 _"Get out of our way." One of the popular people in his class said, shoving past him and, slamming him into the wall in the process. Sousuke winced as his already sore shoulder hit the wall._

 _"Oh, I'm sorry, did your father hurt your shoulder?" The kid had turned to him and was smiling with a sadistic look on their face._

Rin was still talking however, the fear that was creeping up on Sousuke made him physically shake, stopping Rin in his tracks.

 _He's going to hit me isn't he? I should be used to it but... My father was right, I'm not supposed to have friends.._

"...Sousuke! Hey Sousuke? What's wrong? Sousuke?" Rin's voice filled his ears once more however, he couldn't respond. He didn't want to respond.

"Sousuke?" Rin asked again, concern filling his eyes as his friend began panicking.

Sousuke could feel his breathing speeding up as his eyes filled with panic.

 _Calm down, he thought to himself, this is Rin, he wouldn't hurt me, right?_

"Sousuke, calm down. You need to calm down. Sousuke?" Rin was talking to him again "Sousuke? Listen to me, you need to breathe, okay." The concern in Rin's voice was clear to see which only made Sousuke feel worse. Now he'd made Rin worry about him.

 _This isn't supposed to happen, Rin can't find out..._

"Sousuke, come on. Breathe in," Rin paused for a moment and Sousuke tried his best to do as Rin said, taking a shaky breath in. "And out."

Rin continued talking calmly to Sousuke for a few more minutes until the taller of the two had almost completely calmed down.

"Are you okay?" Rin asked once he could see Sousuke was calm. Sousuke simply nodded, avoiding eye contact. "What happened?"

"It's nothing..." Sousuke mumbled

"Sousuke...Please. I want to help you. That was not nothing." Rin stated, placing his hands on Sousuke's shoulders, causing Sousuke to flinch. This only concerned Rin more as he attempted to get Sousuke to look at him.

"Rin, I would tell you but...I can't. I don't want you to get hurt." Sousuke mumbled.

"What do you mean, you don't want me to get hurt?" Rin asked, his voice gentler than before as he moved his hands to Sousuke's face, getting him to look at him. "You've not been sleeping properly, have you?" Looking closer, Rin could see the slight darkness that surrounded Sousuke's eyes.

"Well no, not really but it's nothing. I'm fine Rin."

"I still don't believe you when you say it's nothing but I won't force you to tell me. If you need someone to talk to though then you can talk to me." Rin said.

Later on that night, Sousuke was led in his bed when Rin entered the room. Sousuke jumped slightly, still kind of shaken up from before

"Sousuke? Are you alright?" Rin asked, concern filling his voice and eyes when he saw the taller boy jump.

"Rin, I told you I'm fine." Sousuke replied as Rin climbed half way up the ladder to Sousuke's bed.

"You can talk to me you know, I'm not going to laugh at you or anything." Rin told him seriously

"I know...it's just...It's nothing...It doesn't matter..." Sousuke mumbled, kind of hoping that Rin hadn't heard him.

"Sousuke..." Rin trailed off before doing something Sousuke would never expect. The redhead pulled him into a hug, wrapping his arms around the brunette and burying his face in his neck. It wasn't long after that when Sousuke heard small sniffles coming from Rin.

"Why?" Rin asked, his body physically shaking with anger.

"What..?" Sousuke asked confused

"Why does it not matter? It's obviously bothering you an affecting you, so why does it not matter?" Rin looked up and stared into Sousuke's eyes, tears forming in his own eyes.

"Rin...Please don't cry...I hate seeing you cry because of me..." Sousuke practically begged.

"Sousuke, I'm not crying because of you...Stupid! Why would I be crying because of you? I'm just worried...About you..." Rin stuttered

"Don't be," Sousuke stated with a comforting smile . "You don't need to worry about me, I'm fine Rin."

"It's not going to stop me from worrying but I'll stop asking if you want. If you really don't want to tell me you don't have to but if you change your mind, I'm right here." Rin said with a small smile, climbing back down the ladder to his own bunk.

"Rin?" Sousuke asked

"Yeah?" Rin replied, poking his head out of his bunk to look at his friend

"Thank you." Sousuke said quietly

"You don't need to thank me for anything. Any decent person would do the same." Rin smiled "Anyway, try to get some sleep, being tired won't help anything." Sousuke nodded , rolling over as Rin turned off the lamp that sat next to his bed. It didn't take long for Rin to fall asleep however, Sousuke simply laid, staring at the ceiling blankly.

 _Don't let Rin find out, if he knew, he'd definitely leave you. After all, who would want to be friends with someone who can't even stand up for themselves, someone who can't even tell their friends when something's wrong, someone that constantly lies about being alright... Don't let Rin find out...Don't let Rin find out...Don't let Rin find out..._

With these last thoughts, Sousuke fell into a restless sleep full of nightmares.


End file.
